Full of Firsts — And Not a Parent in Sight

June 18, 2009

I thought — mistakenly, as it turned out — that it was pretty momentous to be witnessing Lily’s first props-assisted rollover yesterday. We were about midway through our hour-long drop-off at daycare.  I was pretending not to notice the time I was supposed to be using for myself slipping away as I clung to my [...]

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Sharks and Bunnies: A Potty Primer

June 16, 2009

It’s been a big week for growing up in the Jake-and-Lily household. And, not surprisingly, I have mixed feelings about it. First, Lily received glowing reviews of her first afternoon in daycare yesterday and spent last night and this morning grinning and babbling at me.  Plainly, she approves.  Or so I am telling myself as [...]

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First Day of School (Infant Remix)

June 15, 2009

Here is how not to get ready for your baby girl’s first day of daycare: First, while it might seem like a good idea at the time, I do not recommend spending the previous week visiting your mother-in-law in St. Louis, having a lovely time, receiving lots of help with child care, and generally forgetting [...]

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Busy with Baby: Me, Myself, and My Baby Who Demands All of Both

May 28, 2009

We have reached that precious stage of infancy where Lily is alive to everything around her, singing out the sounds of conversation to us, staying awake longer between naps, and not looking quite so ridiculous in teeny tiny little dresses.  This can mean only one thing: Just when I have the most to write about [...]

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What Happened to My Yoga Practice?: Lamentations of a Postpartum Mom

May 22, 2009

I was initially kind of excited when I sat down to breakfast this morning and discovered an article in the New York Times Style section about a yoga class I attended a few times. It felt like a brush with celebrity, an acknowledgment of a past life maybe not steeped in but occasionally brushing up [...]

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Be Careful What You Wish For … and then Wish Away

May 19, 2009

I don’t suppose I blame the other parents for laughing at me, even though I resented it deeply at the time. Shouldn’t the sight of a woman holding a screaming infant to her shoulder as a two-and-a-half-year-old clings to her leg crying, “Mommy!  MOOOOOOOMMMMMMYYYYY!” invoke sympathy — nay, even empathy, considering the limited reasons any [...]

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Traveling with Two: An Ode to My Generous Little Spirit

May 12, 2009

Last week, Lily was awake during my acupuncture appointment. Her newfound alertness was one of those developments you look forward to in theory, only to realize once you get there that it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Sort of like when I used to stay up half the night anticipating a trip to [...]

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Photographs and Memories. And Babies.

May 5, 2009

Friday night, after a lovely family evening eating pizza at an outdoor table overlooking a local parking lot, I relaxed on the couch and looked through old pictures of Jake when he was Lily’s age. That was my first mistake.

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Is There Such a Thing as a Full Circle and What Does It Look Like?

May 1, 2009

I hung up the phone yesterday thinking I had come full circle. We hadn’t spoken in nearly twenty years, and I wonder how long it’s been since I’ve heard the laugh that brought me right back in a joyful slide to the summer I turned seventeen.  That laugh, I now remember, made me feel like [...]

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The Most Natural Thing in the World

April 29, 2009

What’s the most natural thing in the world?  Breastfeeding?  The naked human body?  Worms and cockroaches and creepy crawlies?  A little flatulence after a satisfying dinner of rice and beans? Any one of them.  Except for breastfeeding. This declaration, I know, sounds a bit aggressive, wounded perhaps, certainly not in keeping with the spirit of [...]

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Everything Bad for Me Is Good Again (or at Least a Few Things)

April 27, 2009

There are a few things that feel unshakably bad for me:  Voluntarily being outside in the snow.  Spending my work weeks in an office building (and, even worse, a suit).  Wearing my pajamas all day.  Watching television in the middle of a beautiful afternoon.  And eating chocolate.* * I understand that I have just alienated [...]

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What My World Is Coming To and How I Made It Okay

April 22, 2009

On Friday, I sent Mike an email message with the subject line:  “We have a poop!” Not until long after I sent it did the really sad state of my world become apparent to me. For example, the exclamation point was not an ironic gesture.  Nor was I the least bit embarrassed to be plopping [...]

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What I Learned in My First Mommy and Me Yoga Class

April 15, 2009

I’ve had this day marked on my calendar for weeks.  My first Mommy and Me yoga class. It’s been just two days since Lily officially reached the Age Where I Can Take Her Into Public Places, and the prospect of the class was even more exciting to me than Monday’s foray into Target.  Purchasing diapers [...]

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Alice in Motherland, or Just How Hard It Is

April 14, 2009

Yesterday afternoon, I was like the Cheshire Cat, grinning and purring contentedly about how smoothly the first four weeks of Lily’s life have slid by. Yesterday evening, I was Alice herself, “shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches deep, and reaching half down the hall.”  Unlike [...]

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My Refuge

April 6, 2009

On Friday afternoon, I was lucky enough to be invited to the dedication of a lovely meditation space in downtown Asheville, the WriteMind Institute.  And even more lucky to have a mother-in-law in town and an infant feeding schedule that allowed me to attend. It felt pretty darned great to take a shower, put on [...]

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I Like Pink

April 3, 2009

It occurs to me as I type in the title of this piece that I may generate hits from some fans of the singer Pink.  Who seems like a perfectly nice person but isn’t the pink I’m talking about.  On the other hand, I find it fortuitous to have the opportunity to declare “I like [...]

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Feeding My Child without Starving My Soul

March 26, 2009

When I was pregnant with Jake I received a mysterious “congratulations, new mom!” package in the mail from a company whose name looked vaguely familiar to me.  Nestled inside the box were two shiny blue and white cans of Similac formula. I was appalled.  Outraged.  And yet too lazy to pack them up and send [...]

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Is a Toddler in the Lap Worth an Infant Who Can’t Sleep?

March 22, 2009

I had a hour of heaven in front of the television last night. Normally, I don’t think of anything having to do with watching television as particularly heavenly, unless it involves putting my pregnant feet up for an hour of total rest before picking up my son from preschool.  Those days, however, are no longer [...]

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It’s a Girl! and Thoughts on the Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable

March 19, 2009

Jake’s little sister arrived on Friday, proving that Friday the 13th isn’t so very unlucky after all.  Unless, that is, you find it the least bit unlucky to have only 3 hours of labor to produce a nine-and-a-half-pound baby.  I prefer to use the word “intense.” A good word, as well, to describe the feeling [...]

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National Disability Awareness Month

March 11, 2009

With all the writing I’ve been doing about identity, including my past one as a lawyer/law professor, I’m rather ashamed that I haven’t mentioned National Disability Awareness Month.  Maybe because there’s so much to be aware of and too much to say — and most of what I’d say will come from a lofty soapbox [...]

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